New Year's Day brought one of the lowest tides of year, offering a glimpse of life under the ocean surface for young explorers in San Pedro, Wednesday, January 1, 2014. (Sean Hiller / Staff Photographer)

New Year's Day brought one of the lowest tides of year, offering a glimpse of life under the ocean surface, like this sea anemone, in San Pedro, Wednesday, January 1, 2014. (Sean Hiller / Staff Photographer)

It’s a world that usually stays hidden, revealing creatures like brittle stars, sea urchins and colorful anemones.

Thanks to what will be the lowest tides of 2014 this week, hundreds of novice beachcombers are taking advantage of nature’s laboratory, gingerly stepping across the slippery rocks to explore pools teeming with life along the rocky landscape on San Pedro’s coast.

“This is the time of year when we in Southern California have the lowest tides and, conversely, the highest tides,” said Mike Schaadt, director of the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium.

Tidepools are formed by depressions between the rocks that trap water as the tide goes out, offering a glimpse into the world of ocean life.

“It’s all about the moon,” Schaadt said. “What’s happening this time of year is that we have the greatest pull and that’s what causes the water to be drawn up.”

The alternating high tides — also called King Tides — and low tides occur two times each a day, Schaadt said, and will be around through January and part of February.

On Wednesday, the first day of the new year, some 70 people of all ages met at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium for an informational talk and then followed aquarium educator Carl Carranza across the exposed rocks at Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro, carefully stepping over and around the tidepools in between.

“I want to hold a hermit crab!” exclaimed one youngster as his family began the rocky trek.

Small hermit crabs are among the more common animals seen. Other specimens include octopi, sea stars, the sluglike sea hares, and plenty of seaweed and feather boa kelp.

“You’re walking into territory that’s usually covered by water,” said aquarium educator Jim De Pompei. “At more extreme low tides you can see animals like red sea urchins, purple sea urchins, crabs — and you’ll see more of the animals.”

“I think a lot of people are amazed that animals can live in that environment,” Schaadt said. “It’s a harsh environment. It’s cold and it’s hot. It’s the extremes.”

The walks are slippery and putting hands into the water can be dangerous, with species like moray eels sometimes hiding beneath rocks.

“Basically, we tell people to enjoy with your eyes, leave the animals where they belong,” Schaadt said. “That is our outdoor classroom.”

And, he added, “never turn your back on the ocean in the tidepools; a wave can come up very quickly and those rocks are sharp.”

While the aquarium has been sponsoring free tidepool walks for years, many area residents are just learning about the program.

“I never knew these tidepools were here,” said Annette Trevino of Torrance. “We just happened to come (to the aquarium) on the right day.”

The Trevino family outing included Annette’s mother, Elaine Scheier, also of Torrance; her daughter, Jessica; and Jessica’s 6-year-old son, Brandon.

From toddlers to teens and adults of all ages, the New Year’s Day crowd quickly fanned out across the shore, kneeling and bending down to watch or gently pick up — not advised — some of the creatures they found.

“As humans, we’re more prone to focus on larger animals,” Schaadt said. “The animals in the tidepools defy imagination at times in terms of how they look and how they make a living — how they reproduce, how they eat.”

Donna Littlejohn has covered the Harbor Area as a reporter since 1981. Along with development, politics, coyotes, battleships and crime, she writes features that have spotlighted an array of topics, from an alligator on the loose in a city park to the modern-day cowboys who own the trails on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. She loves border collies and Aussie dogs, cats, early California Craftsman architecture and most surviving old stuff. She imagines the 1970s redevelopment sweep that leveled so much of San Pedro's historic waterfront district as very sad.

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